Allen’s Zoo

Done in the car while waiting for the library to open. Bees were pollinating purple flowers next to me.

I’d like to share something I think is fun. The reaction I get from people when I’m out drawing or painting. When not in my car more often than not reactions are positive, like the Starbucks barista, saying he thought it cool. Occasionally my experiences are, let’s just say a bit awkward. Even so they’re often something I look back on with a smile, as they reflect the understanding of the person it’s coming from. On one occasion where I was drawing at a coffee shop, a woman sat at the table next to me accompanied by her two children. As they were getting ready to leave she mentioned she was an artist too. She shook my hand and introduced herself. I noticed while one of her children had gone, the other had walked behind me (between myself and the wall). Mom noticed and noticed I noticed. As she and I continued our conversation, her daughter then got on one side of her and put both hands on her mother’s hip and began pushing. “Let’s go… I thought we were going to go.” I had said, “I guess she’s a bit protective. I remember my daughter was that way sometimes.” When her mother tried to continue talking her daughter came next to me, crossed her arms in front of her and said, nodding to my sketchbook I’d now closed, “Did you draw that?” I said “What,” opening it, “You mean this?” She then nodded over to a magazine on the nearby table and said “You copied that”. I said, “No, these are people who were here. I drew them.” Mind you, she was maybe nine or ten years old. By then mom was ready go. I could only smile. Happy Mothers Day.